Shane Gillis Admits Notre Dame Might Finally Have To Change
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
Longtime Notre Dame fan Shane Gillis is admitting that the Fighting Irish might finally have to make a big change.
The Fighting Irish finished the regular season at 10-2 on the year. Notre Dame was the first team left out of the College Football Playoff field on Sunday afternoon. Miami, which went 10-2 and defeated the Fighting Irish in Week 1, earned the final at-large berth on Sunday afternoon.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was "speechless" by the snub, according to ESPN sideline reporter Jen Lada, who spoke with Fighting Irish AD Pete Bevacqua.
“(Bevacqua) said Marcus did get up and speak to the team immediately afterward. .. He said that usually he has answers or reasons for why these things happen. He has none, and that was unusual. He said he has no answers, it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t add up why Notre Dame is not in this Playoff field," she reported.
While Notre Dame was snubbed, the famous comedian Gillis sounded off on the Fighting Irish's problem: they're not in a conference.
Notre Dame lost its two biggest games of the year, against Miami and Texas A&M.
Gillis opens up on Notre Dame's problem while speaking to The Film Guy’s Brooks Austin.
Should Notre Dame join a conference?
Gillis thinks it might finally be time.
“It’s finally catching up,” Gillis said of Notre Dame’s being independent. “My whole life, everybody’s always been like, ‘Join a conference.’ Now that there’s only two conferences, it’s like, we might have to.
“I’m alright with it. The Big Ten or the SEC would be awesome. Never the ACC after they betrayed us this year. I don’t know if you saw their social media, every day, they were trashing Notre Dame. All the money we gave them? We blessed them, and this is how they repay us?”
Gillis thinks if anyone should've been left out, it maybe should've been Alabama.
“The Miami thing, it was head-to-head,” Gillis said. “I was kind of quiet about saying Notre Dame should be in over Miami. I was just going to let Miami get screwed. But Bama, they had -3 rushing yards yesterday. … I understand not penalizing a team for being in the conference championship if they are competitive or at least, like, don’t have -3 rushing. I don’t know.”
Notre Dame has since opted to skip a bowl game, taking their ball and going home.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Dec 8, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos